Blog Posts by Dave DiMartino

It's a strong week of new releases--indicating that however ailing the record industry may be, there are still artists who command respect, command adoration, and command that you buy their brand new records today!

We've got icons from the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s--and Michael Bolton!

We've got hip bands from the new millennium, striving to maintain their momentum and remain as relevant as their press releases say they are!

And we've got a date with destiny!

Court Yard Hounds: Court Yard Hounds (Columbia)  This week's biggest news may be the release of the new album by the Court Yard Hounds--that is, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, known in some quarters as two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks! And while it's a thoroughly excellent record, I'd be remiss in not mentioning the very large question its release brings up: Were they both not in school they day everyone learned "courtyard" was one word and not two? All told, this is a tasteful, credible set which will set the stage for a

There's something innately charming about Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor--the Sheffield, England-based pair that comprise Slow Club--in the course of their live performances.

Caught by Y! Music during their appearance at the recent South By Southwest conference in Austin this year, the pair come off as a low-key boy/girl duo in the classic  rock 'n' roll sense--singing together both in harmony and in unison, stylistically seeming to borrow from rural American music forms and, at times, oddly recalling the unique '60s pairing of Lee Hazelwood and  Nancy Sinatra.

Officially formed in 2006 after the demise of Sheffield band the Lonely Hearts, Slow Club have been heard in the usual run of seemingly random commercials (Ritz crackers, Lay's potato chips, Vodafone) and TV shows (Chuck, United States Of Tara), but can be heard to much greater effect on Yeah So, their debut album just released Stateside recently.

That Slow Club is attracting an interesting fan base is difficult to argue--as

Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore are responsible for one of the year's finest albums--and, however unappetizing it may sound, much of it is about coal mining.

More specifically, the pair, along with fellow Kentuckian Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket as producer, have produced Dear Companion, a heartfelt, wonderfully performed album of songs in part aimed to draw people's attention to the issue of Mountaintop Removal coalmining (MTR). What's that? Per Wikipedia, it's a process that "involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil laden with toxic mining byproducts are often dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called 'holler fills' or 'valley fills.'"

Both directly and indirectly, Dear Companion explores the impact of the that process on both the environment and working lives of the people of central Appalachia; a portion of the album's sales, in fact, will benefit Appalachian Voices, a group

It's a week dominated by women!

Well, women who've released new albums, that is! And what a line-up: Melissa Etheridge, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Courtney Love's Hole, iCarly's Miranda Cosgrove, and even a fabulous hits collection by Carole King!

It's as if men no longer mattered anymore!

Luckily, however, thanks to inequities in the workplace, only men can afford to buy new albums these days! So it all works out!

Melissa Etheridge: Fearless Love (Island)  Only a cynic would note that the release of this new album came within a week of singer Etheridge's telling Oprah Winfrey that her breaking up with partner Tammy Lee Micheals was "as mutual as those things can be"! Heck, all I know is that she was the last thing on my mind until that announcement made me wonder what Melissa's been doing lately! And what's this? A brand new album? Heck, I think I'll buy it and listen to see if there are any lyrical "clues" about what was going on in the couple's life! So what's the verdict? Heck, I

Just returned from my first-ever trip to the Coachella Music Festival, I'm embarrassed to admit! Embarrassed because I've been living in Los Angeles for almost 25 years and never before saw fit to go there!

Let's just say it was hell!

Still, what is life but a learning experience? And in my case, what did I learn? I learned while driving back and listening to nearly everything ever recorded by the Steve Miller Band that the non-hit songs on Abracadabra virtually laid the groundwork for Weezer's entire career!

Of course I could've learned that driving to the dry cleaners, but then I wouldn't have experienced the joy of hearing music I liked being drowned out by the moronic hip-hop beats blaring from the tent next door!

Plus, sweating is cool!

Cypress Hill: Rise Up (Priority)  It's been a long time since Cypress Hill released an album, and of course since then, both the cotton gin and steam engine have been invented! Luckily, the lovable rapping trio invited a host of guest stars to

Ever have one of those "oh, so that's who does that song" moments?

It happened over here a few weeks before this year's South By Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas--where a shifting, international cast of popular and rising artists appear annually, impress the heck out of everyone, then often go right back home.

In this instance, the moment came upon giving a listen to Dancing The Whole Way Home, a new release on Minty Fresh Records by Miss Li.

Miss Li--born Linda Carlsson in Borlänge, Sweden, 20-something years ago--had already released three album back home and amassed a significantly large following, but here in the States she'd been inserting herself into our culture the way it's done in 2010: via songs featured in TV shows like Weeds and Grey's Anatomy or commercials for Desperate Housewives.

But then there was this iPod Nano commercial.

Afer that--and one listen to Dancing All The Way Home--we were hooked. And you may be, too.

Take a look at this informal performance and

Releases by Jeff Beck, MGMT and Gucci Mane highlight the first paragraph of this week's blog about hot new albums!

Alternately, releases by people about whom you might be mildly curious--such as Natalie Merchant and Jason Castro--are the subject of the second!

Finally, the reissue of Iggy & the Stooges' Raw Power merits its own mention in this third paragraph!

Lastly, this final sentence precedes the actual body of album review copy!

Jeff Beck: Emotion & Commotion (Atco/Rhino)  Albums by Jeff Beck--who to many represents the pinnacle of rock 'n' roll guitarists--are few and far between, and this latest release is his first studio session in seven years. Is it good? You bet! It's also something of a stylistic mishmash: Between instrumental tracks such as "Over The Rainbow" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" are vocal numbers featuring the likes of Joss Stone, Imelda May and Olivia Safe, all of them well-played and well-sung, but something of an unfocused sonic smorgasbord compared to the

While today's biggest pop stars seem to have a shelf life of scant years or months, the older they are, the mightier they remain.

Case in point: When Whitney Houston, whose career surged throughout the '80s and early '90s, announced that she'd be postponing the kickoff of her European tour due to "respiratory illness," the announcement was met in more than a few quarters with knowing looks about both her current abilities as a singer--an object of lively discussion among those who've seen video clips of her onstage recently attempting to reach the high notes that once came so easily--and what in fact might be causing said respiratory problems. Few suggested it was overindulgence at her favorite health spa.

Fast forward a few years, and you've got two of the biggest names in the rap world--Marion "Suge" Knight and Kanye West--at legal odds in Miami due to Knight's being shot in the right leg at a Miami Beach party in 2005. West, oddly being held accountable purely because the event was